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Dorset County Hospital offers CT scans to smokers
Current and past smokers are being offered lung checks in an NHS programme to catch cancer early.
Over the last 14 months, 1,500 patients from Dorset have taken part in the scheme to tackle lung cancer.
Jenny Graves, a respiratory consultant, called it an amazing opportunity for residents.
She said they targeted people from deprived areas, where cancer rates are higher, such as in Portland, Weymouth and Bournemouth.
Hana Spencely is lead nurse for the targeted lung health check programme at the Dorset hospital.
She said "high-risk" patients are offered a low-dose CT scan of their lungs to see if they have cancer.
She also made clear that "low-risk" patients will be monitored every two years until they are over the age of 75.
Nine patients at the hospital have been found to be in the early stages of the disease.
Source: BBC News, 21 March 2024
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Tobacco and Vapes Bill has its first reading
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was introduced in Parliament this Wednesday. You can view the legislation and track the Bill’s progress through the various stages of Parliament here.
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Blog: Let’s stub out smoking for the next generation
In a new blog post, Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of British Heart Foundation, reflects on the opportunity that the smokefree generation legislation raises to take bold steps to save lives.
Dr Griffiths recalls the controversy that the indoor smoking ban caused when it was first introduced twenty years ago. But decades on, smokefree indoor spaces are the “norm” and all controversy has long faded.
In the twenty years since, more progress has been made, Dr Griffiths notes that smoking related deaths have fallen from 115,000 a year to around 80,000. This number is still far too high and Dr Griffiths highlights the “burden of losing loved ones all too early”.
She ends with a plea to all politicians to “back this life saving legislation” and “protect future generations from the devastation tobacco brings”
Source: BHF blog, 20 March 2024
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LGA: Reducing the harm of shisha and the need for better regulation
This Local Government Association policy paper sets out the various health and community issues caused by shisha smoking, including case studies from councils across England. It proposes steps that central government can take to strengthen and reform national legislation through introducing a shisha licensing regime.
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Kings Fund: Illustrating the relationship between poverty and NHS services
Currently it is estimated that more than one in five people in the UK are living in poverty. Living in poverty has a profound impact on people’s health and how they use NHS services. From greater prevalence of a wide range of diseases and difficulties in accessing health care, to later treatment and worse health outcomes, poverty affects every stage of the patient journey.
This long read looks at the link between poverty and each of the following:
• prevalence of ill health
• difficulties accessing health care
• late or delayed treatment (and higher NHS costs)
• poorer health outcomes.
These four issues can be seen across a wide range of NHS services, from emergency care to dentistry. As well as highlighting this breadth, it is hoped that this long read will provide stimulus for local and NHS leaders to consider the role poverty plays when making plans to manage and improve services. To that end, it signposts some existing resources that may help tackle the issues.
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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